News

Oregon Prekindergarten Extended Head Start Duration Pilot

July 11, 2018

The Early Learning Division (ELD) is partnering with six Oregon Pre-kindergarten (OPK) Head Start grantees to offer extended services to participating children and families beginning in the 2018-19 program year.

ELD will provide additional funds to grantees to transition 170 enrollment slots from part-day to extended-day services. Along with the funds for transitioning these slots, ELD will provide start-up costs for grantees to prepare facilities and classrooms.

Of the 28 OPK Head Start Programs, 11 applied for this pilot project. Six applicants were selected based on grantee readiness, community need, commitment to equity, and plans to enhance children’s experiences. ELD will provide technical support for participants. ELD pilot project participants are offering 1,020 hours, except in cases where grantees are offering fewer hours in order to support local partnerships for service delivery. In cases where programs have been approved for fewer hours than the 1,020 standard, the ELD will evaluate and determine criteria for processing such requests in the future, as it is anticipated that more programs will request extended duration.

Nationally, Head Start has been providing more opportunities for grantees to offer extended-day services. With this pilot project, ELD takes an initial step to fund classrooms with more time for teachers to work with children. Recipient grantees and ELD will collaborate regularly to evaluate finances, logistics, challenges, and opportunities associated with extended-day services.

This project begins to implement HB3106, which states that the “ELC may adopt rules that allow for the provision of half or full day, or combination of to meet community needs (for OPK programs).” The purpose of the pilot is to learn with providers more about the impact and logistics of offering extended-day services in communities in different areas of Oregon.